Does good technology guarantees musicality?

Very interesting conclusion Tvad. I'm also a proponent of a state-of-the-art analog section. The analog section could be the most determining factor as far as sound quality concerned. One can have a 1995 digital technology with very good analog section --> will give very good sound (Wadia, Goldmund, Accuphase), otherwise one can have 2008 digital technology with compromised analog section --> will give compromised sound. Do you agree with this?

Chris

i have a dac designed by john tucker of exemplar audio. there are no op amps, it uses two e180cc tubes. i have also tried 12at7 and 12au7, with mixed results. it uses a 16-bit phillips chip. i have replaced several pairs of caps and am reasonably satisfied with its performance.

i think taste or preference, trumps technology. some of my favorite components were in production in the 80's and 70's.

i think taste or preference, trumps technology.

Because music is art - this will always be an issue - the most perfect technology may NOT be what people prefer to hear - people who pay 10K for an item probably do NOT want it to sound just like a $200 item - only a bit cleaner and with better S/N and better dynamics. They want some distinctive coloration for all that extra money. Hugh Padgham prefers Analog. He loves digital for ease of use (pro tools) but still prefers to record to analog multitrack tape. You can listen to an interview if you are interested. This engineer is responsible for the sound of Police/Sting and several famous albums. As everyone knows analog tape is much more forgiving when overdriven and can be used as a compressor that will not sound harsh - this saves time and money in a studio that will not need to re-record a badly placed mike or if the drummer gets over energeticon a particular take. Real insturments have such amazing dynamic range.....

I would go further by saying that digital sound reproduction has not been evolving since 1992. In that particular year four companies introduced their reference digital units: Wadia with the 7/9, Krell with the MD-10 transport and Reference 64 DAC, Goldmund with the Mimesis 10P and Accuphase with the DP-90/DC-91. After these efforts: no news actually. What was their secret? Meticulous enginering and implementation of technology and superior design of the analog section. You might not agree with this statement, but you have to concur that those were the days.

Chris